Romanian rises above the rest on Day 1B

by Nick Wright on May 13, 2011 3:25 PM

When late registration slammed shut on the Eureka Poker Tour, Nova Gorica main event at approximately 4.30pm local time it was confirmed that 211 players had all put up €800 for a shot at winning the second ever Eureka Poker Tour main event.

They created a prize pool of €149,410 and come Sunday the winner will hoist an oversized novelty cheque with the figure €40,010 writ large upon it. By that time another 23 players will have troubled the cashiers desk taking at least €1,350 for their efforts. To see the full payout structure click here.

Perla Hotel and Casino at night

Although Friday 13th is meant to be unlucky it certainly wasn't for Bogdan Nicolae who is currently in pole position to lift the novelty cheque. He bagged up 109,300 tonight and is the only player to break the 100,000 mark thus far.

By the dinner break he had almost as many chips as the Day 1A chip leader (Miha Staric - 97.500) and still had two levels to add to his haul. "I won a lot of small pots," said the 22-year-old professional player from Craiova, Romania. Although he slowed down a touch in the last two levels he finished well clear of the chasing pack.

Bogdan Nicolae - he's going to need a bigger bag

Leading that chasing pack is Dorde Jovanovic (71.200) and couple of Polish players. Both Filip Bedzinski (66,300) and Michal Kadziela (59,310) are well placed going into day two. The latter finished 21st in Prague and flew in from Mardrid today after reporting on the EPT Grand Final. He was at or near the top of the leaderboard for much of the day after winning a big pot with aces during level one.

Filip Bedzinski - leads the Polish contenders

Another Polish player in the field today was PokerStars Team Online member Grzegorz Mikielewicz. The Supernova Elite's day was, in his own words, uneventful and he hung around the average stack or just below for most of the day ending with 25,300.

Mikielewicz will hope to get things going on Day 2

But at least he's coming back for day two, among those we lost on Day 1B were James Keys and Keith Johnson. The latter bust in the hand of the day, flopping quad jacks against Jure Vodeb's 8♥7♥ on a J♥T♥J♦ flop. The 9♥ arrived on the river to one outer the Eureka Poker Tour Prague champion.

Johnson - suffered a sick one outer

Now Johnson is in danger of being overtaken at the top of the Eureka Poker Tour leaderboard by the runner-up in Prague, Antonio Dieguez Rodriguez who made it through to Day 2 with 37,100. Top the leaderboard at the end of the season and you'll win a year's worth of tickets to the Sunday Million. Holy Sunday nights Batman.

Eureka Poker Tour - big flag, bigger prizes

If you want to catch up on all today's events please click on the links below. Play continues at 2pm here at the Perla Hotel and Casino in Nova Gorica as we play down from 92 players to the money (24) and likely to the final table. Sasa Horvat will be back tomorrow, which gives me an excuse to use this stupendous photo. I hope you will be too.